Joanna Bolduc thought she had scratched her cornea. Her eye doctor noticed a pigmentary change in her eyes. She would soon lose her sight.
“It was like life slipping away with my eyes,” she said.
During the Sept. 11 attacks, Bolduc put her face close to the TV screen to find out what was happening. Christmas in 2001 was the last Christmas she could see.
But then she discovered the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center, which teaches the craft of hand-weaving. Their artisan program teaches weaving to people who are blind or visually-impaired, as well as to anyone who is 55 and older. The items they help make are sold at the center and online.
People who are blind or visually impaired want to be creative. And the weaving center is a place where they can express that creativity, creating the colorful fabrics that volunteer sewers then turn into clothing, home decor and towels – a wool and silk wrap in shades of blue; a neck-warming cowl in red and blue crafted from bamboo; a wool rug featuring a cityscape and a sunset.
The artisans weave – and they form a community.
“Life was rough until I found the weaving center,” Bolduc said. “I don’t know if I'd be here today without it.”
The center was founded in 2009 after a weaving program closed at the Oak Hill School for the Blind. Supporters wanted to fill the social void left from the school closure. Volunteers place fabric thread on the looms, the devices used for weaving. Once the artisans complete their weaving, a volunteer sewing team takes over, transforming the material into products.
“Our mission is to enrich lives through hand-weaving,” said Ann Kollegger, the weaving center’s executive director.
Artisans who are visually impaired use their sense of touch to work with the looms. Bolduc wears slippers so she can feel the treadles, foot-powered pedals used to operate the loom. Some write in Braille to list their sequences, reading them back as they use the loom.
Bolduc can keep track of simpler patterns in her head. For harder patterns, she records each element on a digital recorder.
“I play a little bit, weave a little bit,” she said. “And you get through your pattern.”
If Bolduc gets frustrated as she weaves, there are aides to help. But often, she can weave by herself.
“The best way I can describe it is being in a convertible on a highway on a sunny day,” she said. “You just flow. You just get in the zone and you’re just at peace. You’re centered. And you just go.”
Jacob Baker, a volunteer, does many tasks at the center. But he enjoys the meticulous, time-consuming work of threading many individual heddles as he dresses the looms. The close delicate finger work is something that some could find quite unnerving.
“I find it calming,” Baker said. “I'm in my happy place.”
The volunteers and staff strive to make the center a special space. And artisan weavers like Ana Cuevas are appreciative.
“Sometimes it is easy to lose yourself and forget about the fact that there are kind people in the world,” she said. “I would say this place has a ton of kind people that come and make this possible.”
For artisan weaver Derrick Lewis, the center is a supportive, inviting place.
"You’re surrounding yourself with friends and other weavers so it does feel like you’re around people you can trust," Lewis said. "You can joke with them, have fun with them, socialize with them.
“It does feel like home.”
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